KCKCC softball team assists in Thanksgiving Dinner for 125

By ALAN HOSKINS

KANSAS CITY, KAN. ----- Members of the Kansas City Kansas Community College softball team took time away from their Thanksgiving break to help others have a festive Thanksgiving.

For the fourth consecutive year, the Lady Blue Devil softball team coached by Kacy Tillery helped serve Thanksgiving dinner to more than 125 tenants and guests from the Planters II high rise facility for elderly and disabled in Leavenworth.

“For the last 10 years, Amy and Janice Carpenter and Joyce Adams have cooked and prepared Thanksgiving dinner for the tenants and their families,” said Tillery. “For many, it’s the only Thanksgiving dinner they will receive and something our softball teams looks forward to and enjoys assisting.”

KCKCC softball games on Sunday in support of cancer victim

Kansas City Kansas Community College’s Lady Blue Devils will be playing “Red Games for Justin Cothran” when they host Missouri Valley Sunday afternoon.

A longtime assistant softball coach at KCKCC, Cothran was diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma cancer in February of 2011; underwent surgery that March and continues to undergo chemotherapy.

“We’re calling it the Red Games because that’s the color associated with the type of cancer he has,” says Coach Kacy Tillery.

A well-known softball coach in amateur circles, Cothran has coached and worked at the Wyandotte County Softball complex for more than 20 years.

He’s been an assistant at KCKCC for 13 years including the last 11 with Tillery. Three Cothran daughters have played at KCKCC including Katie, a shortstop on this year’s Blue Devil team.

There will be no charge for the Missouri Valley games, which will be played at the KCKCC softball complex at noon and 2 p.m.

However, bracelets members of the team purchased last year in support of Cothran will be on sale at the game and in the softball office for $5.    

KCKCC softball team on winning streak

Nothing like the combination of stingy pitching and timely hitting as Kansas City Kansas Community College’s Lady Blue Devils softball team proved the past week.

Led by the pitching of Jenny Schneider and Katie Cothran and hitting of Mercedes Overstreet, Alyssa Lee and Schneider, the Blue Devils rallied for 4-3 and 2-1 Jayhawk Conference wins over Neosho County on Tuesday and then swept Cottey College 9-0 and 13-1 on Thursday. 

The four-game sweep boosted the Blue Devils’ record to 12-16 overall and 7-9 in the Jayhawk East as they head into the final weeks of the season with five of their last seven doubleheaders at home. At Coffeyville Tuesday, KCKCC returns for three home twin bills in a row starting with Pratt Friday at 3 and 5 p.m.; Dodge City Saturday (noon-2 p.m.) and arch-rival Johnson County next Tuesday (2 and 4 p.m.). 

Trailing 3-0 in the opener against Neosho, Mercedes Overstreet closed the gap to 3-2 in the fourth with a two-run homer following a double by Alyssa Lee and set up a game-winning two-run comeback in the fifth. After a walk and singles by Monica Lee and Cothran loaded the bases, Alyssa Lee tied it with a sacrifice fly and Overstreet singled in the winning run. Schneider scattered eight hits for the win, allowing no earned runs as Neosho took advantage of three errors to score three times in the second. 

Neosho again led 1-0 in the first inning of the nightcap and it stayed that way until the sixth inning when the Blue Devils scored twice with two out. Taylor Sherrill started with a single and with two out, Alyssa Lee singled to tie it and Schneider delivered a run-scoring double to win it. Cothran got the win, allowing just five hits.

Schneider provided her own batting support in the 9-0 blanking of Cottey, driving in three runs with a double and single while allowing just five hits in the shutout. Cothran also had two singles in an 8-hit attack as the Blue Devils scored two runs in each of five straight innings.

The Blue Devils scored six times in the second inning and seven times in the fourth in the 13-1 win while Cothran was limiting Cottey to three hits. MoNica Lee and Cothran each had three singles with Lee driving in three runs to lead a 12-hit KCKCC attack. Emily Lappert added a pair of singles and Alika Buttermore and Overstreet both doubled.